STV system is worth a try

I'll never understand the critics who say the math is too complicated. If the average man can't explain it, we shouldn't use it, they say. Right. By that logic, we'd all have to stop. The other thing the STV does is introduce multi-candidate ridings -- the end of winner-take-all....

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Published inKamloops daily news
Main Author Dundee, David C
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kamloops, B.C Postmedia Network Inc 25.03.2009
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Summary:I'll never understand the critics who say the math is too complicated. If the average man can't explain it, we shouldn't use it, they say. Right. By that logic, we'd all have to stop. The other thing the STV does is introduce multi-candidate ridings -- the end of winner-take-all. As things stand, if the Liberals get 42 per cent of the vote, the NDP 38 per cent and the Green Party 20 per cent -- (relax, I'm just saying if) -- you get one Liberal MLA. Multiply that result by enough ridings and you get a Liberal landslide, even though the NDP trails only slightly in the popular vote. (Sound familiar?) Of course, old polls will tell you party discipline is sometimes necessary. It's the way you get the tough legislation through (read, "unpopular"). So why would you want unpopular legislation? Well, women voting rights were once unpopular. And taxes are never popular. If the majority really had their way, we would all have a tax holiday, the roads would crumble to dust, marijuana would be legal, speed traps would be illegal, school attendance would be voluntary and cable sports programming would be free.
ISSN:1185-491X